Gog and Magog in the news

[Shammu]

 Iran's Mottaki meets UN's Annan in Geneva
Geneva, June 22, IRNA

Iran-FM-Annan
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan discussed major regional and international issues here on Thursday.

Mottaki arrived in the Swiss capital, Geneva, from Italy Wednesday evening to participate in the first session of the new UN Human Rights Council.

Latest developments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran's nuclear case were among the major subjects discussed by Mottaki and Annan.

Praising Iran for showing a "reasonable" approach towards the nuclear dispute, the UN chief expressed hope the dispute would effectively be settled through peaceful ways.

He also hoped that future talks on Iran's nuclear activities would lead to a comprehensive solution to the dispute over these activities.

Meanwhile, Mottaki told Annan that Tehran was seriously studying the 5+1 Group's incentives package to Iran and would welcome holding nuclear talks "without preconditions."
Referring to latest regional developments, the foreign minister said the Iranian government attached great importance to
strengthening of regional peace and stability.

Mottaki also referred to the upcoming 9th conference of foreign ministers of Iraq's neighboring states plus Egypt in Tehran on July 8, 2006, and said the conference is aimed to help promote peace and stability in Iraq and pave the way for its neighbors to play a more effective role in restoring security to the war-torn country.

Iran's Mottaki meets UN's Annan in Geneva

[Shammu]

Iran Justice minister calls on Human Rights Council to stay away from politics
Geneva, June 22, IRNA

Iran-Human Rights Council
Iranian Minister of Justice Jamal Karimirad said on Thursday that the former human rights commission of the United Nations did not have a satisfactory performance.

He told IRNA in Geneva that Iran believes that rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council should observe honesty in offering their report to the Council.

"Rapporteurs of the then human rights commission monitoring human rights situation in the member states used to give a different report to the commission which was in total contrast with the interviews he had conducted during his stay in a specific country," the justice minister said.

"So, officials of the member states saw that the realities had been distorted and the report had nothing to do with the interviews the rapporteur had made during his investigation on human rights violation."
He said that rapporteurs of the former human rights
commission used to change context of their reports for political reasons and that it was discouraging for officials of the member states to accept them for investigation.

Karimirad said that supervisory organs are expected to look into performance of the newly established Human Right Council to avoid any interference of the big powers in the human rights records for their political gains.

Asked about the government's program to promote human rights in Iran, Karimirad said that Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi established an organ seven months ago to monitor human rights violations in Iran.

The organ is composed of the minister of justice, minister of information, minister of the interior, minister of culture and Islamic guidance and minister of foreign affairs under chairmanship of the Judiciary chief.

Karimirad said that he discussed bilateral cooperation with ministers of justice from Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Mauritania, Sri Lanka, Yemen and Sudan during his stay in Geneva.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has been established to replace the human rights commission. Formal meeting of the member states of the Human Rights Council is underway in Geneva.

Iran Justice minister calls on Human Rights Council to stay away from politics

[Shammu]

Russian Air Force to Get New Generation Radar Aircraft

Created: 22.06.2006 13:48 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 13:59 MSK, 16 hours 59 minutes ago

MosNews

The Russian Air Force will be provided with a modernized A-50 airborne warning and control system in 2008, Air Force Commander Vladimir Mikhailov said.

“The A-50 plane will have a new image in 2008. It will be provided with new equipment that would make it possible to operate it for at least 20 years more,” Mikhailov told Interfax news agency Thursday.

“A lot has been done for this now,” Mikhailov said.

The A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft was developed and manufactured by the Beriev Aircraft Research and Engineering Complex Joint Stock Company based at Taganrog in the Rostov Region of Russia.

The aircraft is known in the West by the NATO codename Mainstay. The A-50 entered service with the Russian Air Force in 1984, and is thought to have 16 aircraft in service. The latest version, the A-50U was shown in 1995.

The A-50 aircraft is intended to detect and identify airborne objects, determine their coordinates and flight path data and transfer the information to command posts. The A-50 also acts as a control centre in guiding fighter-interceptors and tactical air forces aircraft to combat areas in order to attack ground targets at low altitudes. The role of the A-50 is comparable to that of the United States E-3 Airborne Early Warning system developed by Boeing, Air Force Technology website reports.

India allegedly has 3 Russian aircrafts of this type. China is also reported to have ordered four A-50/A-50M/U aircraft from Russia.

Russian Air Force to Get New Generation Radar Aircraft

[Shammu]

 Sri Lanka agrees to remove EU truce monitors
New Delhi, June 23, IRNA

SLanka-LTTE-EU
In an effort to keep the threadbare peace process on track, Sri Lankan government caved in to a Tamil Tiger demand of removing the European truce monitors, who branded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as terrorists, from the island nation but said it should be done in six months instead of one.

The government's peace secretariat in a statement, Thursday, said the Tigers' demand to remove monitors from three European Union member states which banned the Tigers as terrorists last month was unethical, but they agreed to go along, PTI reported here.

However, "We hope that the LTTE would reconsider its position and agree to Norway's more practical and reasonable suggestion (to replace them in six months)," it said.

The peace secretariat said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam wanted the Danish, Finnish and Swedish monitors removed within a month.

"This is an unreasonable demand that ignores the service provided by the group of Scandinavian monitors to Sri Lanka's peace process and is oblivious to the realities of international relations.

"In order to ensure the effective monitoring of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) as well as to advance the peace process, it is highly impractical to expect that these changes could be effected within a one-month period as demanded by the LTTE," it said.

Government spokesman and Media Minister Anura Yapa said it was "unreasonable" for the Tiger rebels to demand the removal of ceasefire monitors from three European Union member states - Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

Sri Lanka agrees to remove EU truce monitors

[Shammu]

 Iran pioneer of campaign against illegal drugs globally
Tehran, June 23, IRNA

Iran-Narcotics-Campaign
Secretary General of the Drug Control Headquarters Fada-Hossein Maleki said given its objectives and causes, Iran is the vanguard of campaign against narcotics throughout the globe.

As a pre-sermon lecturer at this week's Friday Prayers congregation, Maleki highlighted Iran's essential role in combatting illegal drugs.

Referring to the United Nations report in this regard, he said 90 percent of the world's narcotics are produced in Afghanistan whose social situation is deteriorating.

"One of the most important aims the Americans and British forces had announced for their presence in Afghanistan was confronting illegal drugs. This is while they try to legalize cultivation of narcotics in Afghanistan," he said.

Maleki noted that reports of international communities incorrectly suggest that Iran has the highest number of drug addicts throughout the globe.

Elaborating on Iran's efforts and measures in eradicating the social plague of drug addiction using the strongest judicial officials and police officers, he said about 20,000 conflicts have occurred between police and smugglers in eastern borders in the last two decades.

"Police have succeeded to destroy 200 small and big drug mafias," he said.

Maleki further stressed the complexity of the illegal drugs issue since the emergence of synthetic narcotics such as glass, crack and pills.

He called on Iranian families to introduce their children to treatment centers if they are addicted.

He described the role of 500 non-governmental organizations in combatting narcotics alongside state-run entities and said Iran's policy is to eradicate the plague.

He also recalled the Supreme leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei's instruction to the State Expediency Council to place the issue of illegal drugs campaign atop its agenda.

Iran pioneer of campaign against illegal drugs globally

[Shammu]

 Swiss FM points to "very constructive" talks with Mottaki in Berne
Geneva, June 23, IRNA

Switzerland-Iran-Mottaki
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said she held a "very constructive" meeting with her Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki in Berne on Thursday.

"We had very constructive discussions about bilateral relations, especially about economic relations between Switzerland and Iran," Calmy-Rey told IRNA following her talks with Mottaki at the Swiss foreign ministry.

"We also had a discussion about the Iranian nuclear issue. Between Iran and Switzerland exists a constructive dialogue," the top Swiss diplomat stressed.

Asked whether she was optimistic on a peaceful settlement on Iran's nuclear case, Calmy-Rey replied, "I am not optimistic and not pessimistic. Switzerland had always a favorable position towards a diplomatic solution."
Meanwhile, Mottaki pointed out that Thursday`s meeting with the Swiss official included a "review of the latest developments in Iran`s nuclear file".

He added that Switzerland could play a constructive role in "paving the way for the beginning of talks about the Iranian nuclear case aimed at answering some of the ambiguities and questions".

Mottaki who termed his talks with Calmy-Rey "positive and useful", reiterated that the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a response to the western proposal package in August.

The Iranian official expressed hope once again that a diplomatic solution to Iran`s nuclear row could still be achieved.

Mottaki addressed earlier in the day the first session of the new UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, where he also met with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour.

Swiss FM points to "very constructive" talks with Mottaki in Berne

[Shammu]

 British Muslims the most anti-western in Europe
London, June 23, IRNA

UK-Muslim Attitudes
The Muslim community in Britain is the most embittered and anti-western in Europe, according to a new global poll.

The poll, published by the Washington-based Pew Global Attitudes Project, found that British Muslims represented a "notable exception" in Europe, with far more negative views of westerners than Islamic minorities elsewhere on the continent.

A significant majority of Britain's 1.8 million community viewed western populations as selfish, arrogant, greedy and immoral. Just over half said westerners were violent.

While the overwhelming majority of European Muslims said westerners were respectful of women, fewer than half British Muslims agreed.

Another startling result found that only 32 per cent of Muslims in Britain had a favorable opinion of Jews, compared with 71 per cent of French Muslims.

Across the board, Muslim attitudes in Britain were found to more resembled public opinion in Islamic countries in the Middle East and Asia than elsewhere in Europe.

British Muslims were also largely more pessimistic than those in Germany, France and Spain about the feasibility of living in a modern society while remaining devout.

It was also found that British Muslims are far more likely than their European counterparts to harbor conspiracy theories about the September 11 attacks. Only 17 per cent believed that Arabs were involved, compared with 48 per cent in France.

The Pew poll, which asked Muslims and non-Muslims about each other in 13 countries, recorded a fall from 67 per cent to 63 per cent in the favorable views of Muslims held by all Britons following last year's London bombings.

But the attitudes towards Muslims in Britain was still more positive than in the US, Germany and Spain and about the same as in France.

Just under a third of British non-Muslims said they viewed Muslims as violent, but this was significantly fewer than 60 per cent of non-Muslims in Spain, the 52 per cent in Germany, the 45 per cent in the US and 41 per cent in France.

The global poll found general agreement that community relations are bad, but Britons as a whole were much less likely than other Europeans to blame Muslims.

More Britons (27 per cent) faulted westerners than Muslims (25 per cent), with a third saying both are equally responsible. By comparison, in Germany and France both communities blamed each other in roughly equal measure.

Unlike the rest of Europe, a majority of Britons also declared themselves sympathetic to Muslims offended by the Islamophonic cartoons published in the European press last year. Nearly three- quarters blamed the controversy on western disrespect of Islam.

British Muslims the most anti-western in Europe

[Shammu]

Iran accuses Washington of using nuclear issue as an excuse to topple government

· West's compromise deal labelled 'a sermon'
· US accused of 'wanting to set fire to the region'

Simon Tisdall, Ewen MacAskill, Robert Tait Tehran
Friday June 23, 2006
The Guardian

The US is determined to topple Iran's Islamic government whether or not the crisis over the country's nuclear activities is resolved, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said yesterday.

US enmity towards Iran was entrenched, Mr Larijani told the Guardian. "The nuclear issue is just a pretext. If it was not the nuclear matter, they would have come up with something else."

The compromise package offered by the west on Iran's nuclear activities amounted to a "sermon", he said, rejecting outright President George Bush's demands this week that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment.

Article continues
"If they want to put this prerequisite, why are we negotiating at all? Mr Bush is like a mathematician. When the equation becomes very difficult to work out, he likes to wipe it out altogether ... the pressure they are putting on us is reason enough for us to be suspicious." Mr Larijani's remarks represented his most negative assessment since the west's package was presented on June 6, suggesting a quick resolution was unlikely. Diplomats say Iran has been given a de facto deadline of the G8 summit in St Petersburg in mid-July for a formal response.

But Mr Larijani said Iran would present extensive and detailed counter-proposals only when it was ready to do so, although committees of experts were "working round the clock". A debate is underway inside the government with hardline ayatollahs calling for outright rejection of the west's ideas and some officials stressing their positive aspects.

Mr Larijani, former deputy head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, is the most influential political figure in the country after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and answers directly to the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. As chairman of the Supreme National Security Council, he oversees security and defence strategy.

Mr Larijani said American policies in the Middle East, from Iraq to Palestine, were deeply destabilising and had complicated efforts to cut a deal. "If they continue on the same path, the price of oil will skyrocket and it will strengthen our resolve. They want to set fire to the region. The American strategy is to use force to secure their interests."

He also blamed Israel for many of the region's problems. "I think those people advising the CIA are the Zionists. They are pushing [the Americans] into this quagmire of war."

He denied reports that Iran was planning to block oil export routes through the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Gulf, if it was attacked or if UN sanctions were imposed. But he warned that if hostile action was taken through the UN security council, Iran would "reconsider its relationship" with the International Atomic Energy Agency. That could spell an end to already limited UN inspections of the nuclear plants at Natanz and Isfahan.

Mr Larijani said he was in constant contact by telephone with the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, contrasting Iran's dialogue with the Europeans with a lack of contact with the Bush administration. But he offered to talk to the White House if US policies changed."We should put aside the [US] sanctions and give up all this talk about regime change.

"This is what we are looking for ... if the Americans change their behaviour in the region and change their strategy, I assure you that talking over the phone will not be a serious problem."

He was critical of US attempts to promote democracy inside Iran. "They said they wanted to turn Iraq into a beacon of democracy. And out of that whole venture came Abu Ghraib and atrocities that were committed there on a daily basis ... the Palestinians chose a Hamas government. Why are they so hostile towards them?"

The $70m earmarked by the Bush administration to aid propaganda efforts inside Iran was an insult, he said. "I think that money is very little, to be honest," he said with a wry smile. "The minimum acceptable amount should be $70bn so the citizens of this country would at least get something out of it."

Mr Larijani declined to discuss the specifics of Iran's coming counter-proposals. "But suffice it to say [the west's package] has a lot of ambiguous points. These ambiguities persist from the beginning to the end of the package.

"On many of the points, we do not know how they intend to go about them. The package is more like a statement. If we are going to get agreement, we do not need a sermon."

Mr Larijani said there was no doubt that security guarantees were badly needed as part of any deal - "but not what they have talked about. They should not try to repackage their needs as incentives and offer that to us as a concession".

But he reiterated Iran's insistence that, despite western suspicions to the contrary, it has no wish to acquire a nuclear weapons capability. "We are not trying to construct the bomb. We don't want the bomb. The Americans know this. And Mr [John] Negroponte [the US intelligence tsar] announced some time ago that that Iranians don't have the bomb and wouldn't be able to make the bomb, even if they wanted to, for more than 10 years."

He strongly objected to the west's perceived double standards in objecting to limited nuclear-related "research and development" by Iran while acquiescing in Israel's and India's nuclear weapons programmes.

Iran accuses Washington of using nuclear issue as an excuse to topple government

[Shammu]

Iran Planting Bombs In Iraq

(CBS News) BAGHDAD For U.S. soldiers fighting insurgents just south of Baghdad, Thursday's news from the Pentagon was sobering.

According to the United States' commanding general in Iraq, Iran has joined the war. Gen. George Casey said Iranians are planting roadside bombs that are killing U.S. soldiers, reports CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan.

"We are quite confident that the Iranians through their covert special ops forces are providing weapons, IED technology and training to Shia extremist groups in Iraq," Casey said at a Pentagon press conference with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld by his side.

Casey went so far as to accuse the Iranian government of helping mastermind the attacks.

"Now you would assume they're not doing that independently, that there is some central direction from somebody in Tehran," Casey said.

Iraq's National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie said regardless of who is backing the insurgency, Iraq has to be able to stand on its own, Cowan reports.

"We need to avoid what I call dependency syndrome. We need to wean ourselves off this dependency," al-Rubaie says.

Rumsfeld said Casey had not yet had sufficient time to consult with the new Iraqi government, but that in any case the size of the U.S. force is likely to rise and fall in coming months, depending on political and security conditions.

"It will very likely not be a steady path down," Rumsfeld said. "It could very likely be a drawdown with an increase." Noting that there now are 126,900 U.S. troops in Iraq, he said: "It could very well go back up at some point. It very likely will go down and up and down and up depending on the circumstances and depending on the need."

Casey, who said more than once last year that he expected to see "fairly substantial" U.S. troop reductions during spring and summer of 2006, noted that the force has dropped from about 138,000 in March to 126,900 now.

"Whether that's 'fairly substantial' enough, I'll leave to your judgment," he said. "As I said, I think there will be continued gradual reductions here as the Iraqis take on a larger and larger role."

In other recent developments:

•   The Republican-controlled Senate on Thursday soundly rejected two Democratic attempts to urge withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, including an amendment to begin pulling out by the end of the year. GOP lawmakers accused the Democrats of wanting to abandon Iraq before the mission is complete, while Democrats said it is time for changes in Mr. Bush's failed Iraq strategy.

•  Two U.S. soldiers who vanished during an insurgent checkpoint attack and were later found slain had been left alone while other vehicles in their patrol inspected traffic, the military said Thursday.

•  The U.S. military Thursday reported four Marines and a soldier were killed in operations south and west of Baghdad, and an explosion of sectarian and revenge killings in Iraq's third largest city over the past three days claimed 19 lives.

•  Iraqi police stormed a farm north of Baghdad early Thursday and freed at least 17 people who were snatched a day earlier in a mass kidnapping of about 85 workers and family members at the end of a factory shift.

•  Seven Marines and a Navy corpsman were charged Wednesday with premeditated murder in the shooting death of an Iraqi man who was pulled from his home and shot while U.S. troops hunted for insurgents. They could face the death penalty if convicted. All eight also were charged with kidnapping.

•  Lawyer Khamis al-Obeidi, a Sunni Arab who represented Saddam and his half brother Barzan Ibrahim, was abducted from his home Wednesday morning. His body was found riddled with bullets on a street near the Shiite slum of Sadr City. His widow, Um Laith, was quoted on The New York Times' Web site as saying the attackers wore civilian clothes. She said 20 men burst into their house while the couple and their children were sleeping, and identified themselves as members of an Interior Ministry security brigade.

•  Australian forces in Iraq will be shifting to a more dangerous role that could expose them to combat with insurgents, Prime Minister John Howard said Thursday. In a statement to Parliament, Howard formally set out details of the new deployment of Australian forces that will follow the handover of security responsibility to Iraqi forces in southern Muthana province and the withdrawal of Japanese troops.

Gen. Casey also said that members of the Sunni insurgency have been reaching out to the new Iraqi government, giving U.S. military commanders opportunities to forge communications with the resistance groups.

Casey said the U.S. military and the Iraqi government "have several different strands of contacts going on, and there are opportunities in that regard we just haven't had before." He did not elaborate. He also said the insurgency has grown more complex in recent months, and he complained that it has been assisted by Iranian special operations forces who provide bomb materials, weapons and training to Shiite extremists in southern Iraq.

"They are using surrogates to conduct terrorist operations in Iraq both against us and against the Iraqi people," Casey said. "It's decidedly unhelpful." He added there has been a "noticeable increase" in the problem since January, but he could not quantify it.

Casey also said Iran has become the main source of materials to make makeshift roadside bombs that regularly kill U.S. troops as well as Iraqis. "Those primarily come from Iran," he said. "We're seeing attacks and we're finding more of them. So it's coming in from, we believe, Iran."

Iran Planting Bombs In Iraq

[Shammu]

General Reports Spike in Iranian Activity in Iraq

By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 23, 2006; Page A19

Iranian support for extremists inside Iraq has shown a "noticeable increase" this year, with Tehran's special forces providing weapons and bomb training to anti-U.S. groups, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said yesterday.

Other U.S. officials have complained about Iranian meddling in Iraq, but the criticism of Tehran by Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. was the most direct and explicit so far. Speaking at a Pentagon news conference before an array of reporters and television cameras, the general listed Iranian influence as one of the four major problems he faces in Iraq.
   
Transcript
Defense Department News Briefing
Read a transcript of remarks made by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. George Casey, the top commander of the multinational forces in Iraq, about the situation in Iraq.
Nuclear Development in Iran

    * Bush Accuses Iran of Stalling on Proposal
    * Iran's Gray Area on Nuclear Arms
    * Nuclear Arms Fill Gray Area in Iran
    * Iran Urged to Accept Limits
    * Ahmadinejad Says Proposal By the West Is 'Step Forward'



"We are quite confident that the Iranians, through their covert special operations forces, are providing weapons, IED technology and training to Shia extremist groups in Iraq, the training being conducted in Iran and in some cases probably in Lebanon through their surrogates," Casey said, using the military abbreviation for "improvised explosive devices," or roadside bombs. The Iranians are "using surrogates to conduct terrorist operations in Iraq, both against us and against the Iraqi people."

Iran's actions are a major concern not only because of attacks on U.S. forces, but also because the durability of the new Iraqi government depends in part on the willingness of Iraqi's Sunni minority to accept the government. The Sunnis will be unlikely to do so if the Iranian government is perceived as playing a major role in supporting and even arming violent Shiite factions.

"Since January, we have seen an upsurge in their support, particularly to the Shia extremist groups," Casey said. "They are providing weapons, training and equipment to Shia insurgents, and that equipment is being used against us and Iraqis."

In the wide-ranging news conference, Casey also touched on several other aspects of the three-year-old U.S. war in Iraq. He said that insurgent attacks are up but insisted that "the insurgency hasn't expanded." About 90 percent of its attacks are launched within 30 miles of Baghdad, he said.

Discussing the state of al-Qaeda in Iraq since the killing earlier this month of its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Casey said, "They're hurt, but they're not finished. . . . They're feeling the pain right now."

Casey expressed confidence in the growing strength of the Iraqi army but voiced concern about the state of the Iraqi police, especially in the Baghdad area, where, he said, their operations are influenced by militias. Sunnis often accuse the police, who are controlled by the Ministry of the Interior, of working closely with Shiite death squads.

"There are challenges with the police that I think you know, and the performance of the police varies widely around the country," he said. "Probably the greatest challenge for the new minister of interior is to restore the confidence of the Iraqi people in general and the Sunni population in particular in the Ministry of Interior forces."

Casey also appeared to stand by, but soften, his previous assertion that the number of U.S. troops would be reduced this year. "I'm confident that we'll be able to continue to take reductions over the course of this year," he said.

There are about 127,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. That is down from a peak of about 160,000 in winter 2005-06, but close to the typical level over the past three years of about 135,000. The widespread expectation inside the U.S. Army is that by the end of this year, the U.S. presence will be cut to about 100,000.

Since the fall of 2003, top commanders have wanted to reduce the U.S. troop commitment but have been unable to turn that hope into reality.

Casey appeared to stop a bit short of his statement 11 months ago that held out the prospect of "fairly substantial" cuts in troop levels. In July 2005, he said: "If the political process continues to go positively, and if the development of the security forces continues to go as it is going, I do believe we'll still be able to take some fairly substantial reductions" after the Iraqi elections in 2006.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who uncharacteristically played a supporting role during the news conference, added that the size of U.S. forces "very likely will go down and up and down and up depending on the circumstances and depending on the need."

General Reports Spike in Iranian Activity in Iraq

[Shammu]

Iran calls for UN action to stop ‘defamation’ of Islam
(Reuters)

23 June 2006


GENEVA — Iran backed efforts by Islamic states yesterday to get the United Nations new Human Rights Council to counter what they call “defamation of religion” around the world.

But Canada accused the Iranians of discrediting the Council by including in their delegation the state Prosecutor-General who Ottawa says was linked to the arrest and death in Teheran of a Canadian woman journalist.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the 45-member Council, holding its first-ever session, that freedom of expression “should not constitute a pretext and a platform to insult religions and their sanctities.

“Defamation of religions, particularly the divine message of Islam, should be rejected,” he declared. Action on this should be part of the rights standards set by the Council and pursued through “implementation at the international level.” His remarks echoed a call from the Organisation of Islamic States (OIC) and assertions by Saudi Arabia that Islam faced “an escalation of hatred and animosity ... disdain for its values and everything it holds sacred.”

Although some diplomats say the drive reflects Muslim anger over cartoons published in the West last year depicting the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), others see it as part of a longer-term effort to counter criticism of the rights records of many OIC states.

Members of the grouping, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, were often accused at the Council’s predecessor, the Human Rights Commission, of violating the rights of women and national and religious minorities.

In his speech, Iran’s Mottaki accused Western countries of trying to impose “uniculturalism” on the UN system to ensure their own values set the model for all human rights standards.

But Mottaki made no reference to the complaint to the Council from Canada’s MacKay, who also called on other delegations to protest over the presence in the Council of the Iranian prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi.

By including Mortazavi in its delegation, MacKay said in a statement issued through his office, “Iran is trying to discredit the Council and deflect attention from its goal of ensuring greater respect for human rights.”

Independent human rights groupings at the session say Mortazavi has played a key role in the detention of hundreds of domestic critics of Iran’s Islamic authorities, as well as of journalists accused of defaming the state.

In his speech, the President of the newly created Saudi Human Rights Commission said his country “in keeping with Islamic tradition ... accords special attention to the issue of religious tolerance” and respect for different cultures.
Although there were ongoing efforts in the West to link it with terrorism, he declared, “Islam is a moderate religion that advocates mutual tolerance, empathy and coexistence and rejects fanaticism, obscurantism and coercion.”

Iran calls for UN action to stop ‘defamation’ of Islam

[Soldier4Christ]

Iran calls for UN action to stop ‘defamation’ of Islam

That will never happen as Islam is a 'defamation' unto itself.

[Shammu]

That will never happen as Islam is a 'defamation' unto itself.

I know brother remember I get some of the news, from islamic news sources. What better way to know your "enemy" cult  then how he thinks. 

I wonder what they are going to say, at the Great White Throne Judgement........................

[Soldier4Christ]

There is nothing that they will be able to say that will do any good.

[Shammu]

There is nothing that they will be able to say that will do any good.

AMEN brother AMEN!!